In 2015, Justin Trudeau ran on “sunny ways” and making promises to everybody without blinking an eye. He promised to change our electoral system to woo voters on the left and promised to restore Veteran pensions to woo voters on the right. He told Canadians that he was Canada’s first feminist prime minister and promised a government focus on respect and reconciliation with Indigenous Canadians. He promised to be all things to all people, but ended up letting everyone down.
Nothing symbolizes the phoniness of Justin Trudeau more than the SNC-Lavalin scandal. Canadians witnessed how the Prime Minister and his inner circle pressured the Attorney General to help a corporation with close ties to the Liberal Party. When he was first confronted by the scandal, Trudeau claimed the newspaper story was false, but in the months that followed it revealed in painstaking detail that he had lied to Canadians. The SNC-Lavalin scandal featured a pattern of disrespectful conduct towards Jody Wilson-Raybould–the senior ranking Indigenous Canadian in the Trudeau cabinet–showed how Justin Trudeau is nothing like he claims to be. By the end of the SNC-Lavalin affair, three women had resigned from the Liberal caucus to sit as independents because they had lost all respect for his leadership. Even Liberal Members of Parliament feel that Justin Trudeau is not as advertised.
In the meantime, the Trudeau government has racked up huge deficits and raised taxes countless times on families, seniors, small businesses and everyone, in the form of a carbon tax. In good economic times, Trudeau is running $20 billion deficits in the year he “promised” to post a balanced budget. He has collected more than $60 billion in unexpected government revenues because of positive US growth, yet he still cannot keep his promise to balance the budget.
Small businesses and farming families felt under attack from the Liberal government and larger businesses have been losing confidence in the Canadian economy. We saw this firsthand in Durham when General Motors chose assembly plants in the U.S. and Mexico over Canada. All Canadians also felt this in the pocketbook when the Trudeau government spent $4.5 billion of taxpayer’s money for a pipeline that only a few years earlier was being expanded with no government handouts. Canada is losing its competitive edge under the Liberals and this is a very worrying trend.
Canadians cannot afford another four years of the Trudeau Liberals and that is what this election is all about. Our Prime Minister and the government of Canada must be more than carefully staged photo-ops, slogans and social media tweets. The government needs to serve the people and prepare our country for the future. The leader of the Conservative Party, Andrew Scheer, knows this and is in politics for all the right reasons. Rather than feeling he was born with the right to lead the country, Andrew came from humble means and earned his way to Parliament. He and his wife Jill are raising a large family, and can relate to the struggles and aspirations like those families here in Durham. He plans to make life more affordable for families and seniors and will end the Liberal war against small businesses. We can and must get back to basics and I hope Canadians see how important this election is to our future.
I am proud to represent my hometown in Parliament. Every day, I try to be a strong voice for our region and the things we cherish. I also try to be an informed and respectful voice in national politics and that has allowed me to draw attention to investment to our region. Durham Region always had two cabinet ministers under the previous Conservative government, including the late Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. Durham has been neglected by the Trudeau government. From the GM closure, to the stalled airport lands in Pickering, to eliminating the Oshawa Port Authority, the Liberals have done nothing to support our region.
The next decade is posed to be Durham’s decade to tap the amazing talents of our people and our community. I hope to continue to serve as your voice and as a champion for our communities.